Allison Williams wants to fake out fans in ‘Unfortunate Events’

The former “Girls” star — also known for her dark turn in Jordan Peele’s Oscar-nominated horror-satire film “Get Out” — says she likes toying with audience expectations, including her newest role in “A Series of Unfortunate Events.”

“People have a much better sense for who [actors] are as people than they used to, and they use the characters against each other,” says Williams, 30, adding that she likes to factor that into her choices.

“For example, using the Peter Pan and [‘Girls’ character] Marnie vibe in ‘Get Out’ so audiences would trust me almost unquestioningly — that was something I really enjoy.”

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Williams, the daughter of MSNBC anchor Brian Williams, rose to fame playing perfectionist Marnie Michaels on HBO’s “Girls” from 2012 to 2017. Her latest series — and first recurring TV role since “Girls” ended its run — is in the third and final season of “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” co-starring Neil Patrick Harris and premiering Jan. 1 on Netflix.

The show, based on a series of eponymous books, follows a trio of orphaned siblings as they navigate an increasingly absurd series of threats against their lives and inheritance. Its stylized tone is Wes Anderson meets Tim Burton, so it’s as different as can be from the “Girls” world of millennial Brooklynites.

“That is definitely a very deliberate choice,” says Williams. “After I’ve played a character, I feel like the most interesting thing is to make a 180 degree turn in a different direction. ‘Girls’ is very naturalistic — as natural and as real as possible was the rule of thumb, to the point where filming in Marnie’s apartment was uncomfortable to the crew because it was so small. ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ is fantastical, and the books were sort of a touchstone to everyone I knew.”

The book series was published between 1999 and 2006. Its popularity enabled Williams to trick her fans yet again.

She plays Kit Snicket, the long-lost sister of the story’s Rod Serling-esque narrator, Lemony Snicket (Patrick Warburton). Kit is an enigmatic character with ties to V.F.D., the secret society that exists at the heart of the story’s mystery. After Williams landed the role in March, she had to keep it under wraps, involving some good-natured deception.

“Fans of those books and the series are fun. I’ve interacted with many a precocious young person,” she says. “The funniest thing is that for a while before I was allowed to say I was Kit Snicket, my friends and their kids would try to get as much information out of me as possible. I had a lot of kids guess straight to my face that I was Kit.

“When you’re dealing with a young kid, that adds a weird element of distrust— like, ‘I promise I wasn’t lying to you on purpose, I just wasn’t allowed to tell you!’ ”